Avalokan

Eternal Search...

First things first...It's a brand new year again...so wishing you a very Happy New Year...2009.

I had to write this one!! There was a very special motivation and also a special occasion. The motivation was by my dear Priya Aunty( oh..Shes just so adorable !!) and the occasion was the 
silver Jubilee of Anttak...
P4E6TV5XZ3ZH 

Yeah Anttak ,the group I have been constantly raving about is now 25. 25 means that it has now completed 25 meets of singing , dancing, masti and frolic. And it doesn't end ther
e, Anttak is alive and going strong. The
 energy and enthusiasm of its members is ever increasing and a pa
rt of it was amazingly evident at the 25th show.




To start something as novel as Anttak was noteworthy but to sustain it over 4 years keeping the vigor and zest alive is a feat in itself. I feel privileged to be a part of this group, feels as if am part of something historic in the making. Am I exaggerating? Well who knows, but what I know is that Anttak is chart
ing its own path.



What started as a platform for a group of families to pursue their hobby of singing has now grown into a group for the 'Performing Arts & Entertainment'. Loosely speaking it is now about Song , dance, masti , music and party full on with an additional 'Age No Bar' tag line. 
Well, I am sure of the age of the youngest member who is a 4 month old baby(In Pic). 

About the older folks , no body knows their real ages. When a 45 year old is dancing as well as an 18 year old, age has no option but to go and take a hike...Am sure kids just love to see their mom and dad dancing their heart out.Nobody is or wanna be a grown up here. 

And the kids, well they are the life of these parties. Don't think the kids would be fooling around and worrying their parents. They come equally armed , ready to surprise everybody with their flair. There are some very special kids , I just love to watch performing. Every time , I have an expectation about how their performance will be and everytime they tend to better that. Seeing them sing , dance with such perfection and dedication, I can't help but think about the amazing future these kids would have in store. Kids like Kirtana, Kaushik, Ramya, Ramita,Geetika, Siddharth,Bharat, Akshay and Khushi  bring a cool zing to the party.

Now about the group itself. With 25 successful meets under its belt , Anttak is now a name , a brand for it's members. Every body associated takes pride in the common link which binds them all, and that is Anttak. The blog was always there to showcase what all is hip and happening in the group but now things have an official air about them. Wanna now why? Anttak has a beautifully designed logo to boast of now. 
and Now we can show off the Anttak T shirts , coffee mugs and other accessories 



















The group's got its own blog Anttak and now it has its own logo too. The T-shirts everybody wore at the silver jubilee function came complete with the logo of Anttak and brand Anttak was everywhere to be seen. 

Well I had thought of writing up a detailed description of this amazing day that was... but Madhu 'Aunty' came up with such a fantastic write up that I dont think I can do any better than that. I must say that after reading that I could relive the day all over again with all its excitment...


Read the write up and you can feel what every one who attended the jubilee Anttak meet is raving about !!

By the way ... Anttak is official now with its own logo to boast of... Here it is :
P4E6TV5XZ3ZH 


WOW....thats what comes to mind when I think about yesterday. The occasion ? Ant-tak celebrated its silver jubilee meet on 27th December 2008 and what a day it was!Now that I had attended 4-5 meets already, I had a fair idea that this one would be special, but in doing that I was under estimating the people who form this amazing group. Surprise surprise ... who said it would be just special. Right from the start to the finish, there were twists, turns , surprises, amazing performances and the mind blowing enthusiasm of 'ANTTAKians' made the day a real memorable one.

Everybody present cherished the long memorable journey which now spans 25 events over 4 years. The family is growing and waiting eagerly for the 100th..hehe( family picture above ;-) ).
While the detailed description of the day would be coming up soon, I am putting up some of the snaps of the day!









Wondering where are the singers?? Heres Manak Ji singing a beautiful number....I was surprised to see a subdued version of him yesterday....
P4E6TV5XZ3ZH




It was a happy moment for me to be part of something I had admired for so long. It was "Ant-tak" or अंत तक in Hindi, a group of friends and family which knows how to enjoy life and has chosen music as the medium to do just that.

The official blog of this group called Anttak describes itself as "a group that just enjoys music singing and dancing just for fun. We organise the gathering at one of the homes of the participants, randomly, in turns. The music is usually accompanied by karaoke music and live instruments. This is purely for a closed group of families who just love music, to sing and listen."

My first experience of this cool group was a
frolicking 12 hours of singing, dancing "Sakkat maja maaading". Boy o boy no body was a 50 year old there!!! This happened on 19th of april.
(I think the pics say it all)

It all started with the group meeting at Venkat n priya's place in a rather formal manner which gave me an impression that it would be another one of those "oldies parties" but boy was I proved wrong throughout the get together as I was the only one who remained seated throught (due to my illness). Everyone , even the 70 year old granny got up her feets to shake a leg or two and it was fun all throughout. Everybody seemed fully determined to have the time of their lives in those few years they were all together. And in between there were sweet melodies, oldies sung be elders and some poem recitals/songs sung by small kids, and by small i mean even a 3 year old kid.
But what blew me off was a full s
hloka recital by a kid named Akshay who did it with full josh and confidence( check out the pic).

Initially I had my apprehensions about this get together and wanted to give it a miss due to my illness but decided to go to cheer my sister Geetika who was supposed to sing one of my favourite songs ( Maa from the Movie "Tare ZAmeen Par").


But the whole concept instantly became a great hit with me as inspite of my illness I could feel the energy and enthusiasm of the people there.
I had a great time meeting such enthusiastic people and I am amazed to find myself despe
rately waiting for the next get together which is scheduled sometime in the middle of this may I am told.
Hopefully I would be able to enjoy and take part more actively the next time it happens.
Three che
ers to अंत तक !!!